New International Version
1 Timothy 6:4
4they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions
1 Timothy 6:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
- English Standard Version (ESV)he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,
- New King James Version (NKJV)he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions,
- New Living Translation (NLT)Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions.
Context of 1 Timothy 6:4
2Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare of their slaves. These are the things you are to teach and insist on. 3If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 6But godliness with contentment is great gain.
Read all of 1 Timothy 61 Timothy 6:4 word by word
τετύφωται μηδὲν ἐπιστάμενος ἀλλὰ νοσῶν περὶ ζητήσεις καὶ λογομαχίας, ἐξ ὧν γίνεται φθόνος, ἔρις, βλασφημίαι, ὑπόνοιαι πονηραί,Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- He is proudτυφόωtuphoō · be conceitedG5187
- knowingἐπίσταμαιepistamai · to know/understandG1987
- nothingμηδείςmēdeis mēdemia mēden · nothingG3367
- butἀλλάalla · butG235
- dotingνοσέωnoseō · be sickG3552
- aboutπερίperi · aboutG4012
- questionsζήτησιςzētēsis · controversyG2214
- andκαίkai · andG2532
- strifes of wordsλογομαχίαlogomachia · quarrelG3055
- whereofἐκek ex · out fromG1537
- whereofὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
- comethγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
- envyφθόνοςphthonos · envyG5355
- strifeἔριςeris · quarrelG2054
- railingsβλασφημίαblasphēmia · blasphemyG988
- evilπονηρόςponēros · evil/badG4190
- surmisingsὑπόνοιαhuponoia · suspicionG5283
Cross-references for 1 Timothy 6:4
- 1 Timothy 1:7They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
- 1 Timothy 3:6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.
- Proverbs 13:7One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
- Proverbs 25:14Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of gifts never given.
- Proverbs 26:12Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them.
- Acts 8:9Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,
- Romans 12:16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
- 1 Corinthians 3:18Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise.
- 1 Corinthians 8:1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
- Galatians 6:3If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
- Colossians 2:18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
- 2 Timothy 3:4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—
- 2 Peter 2:12But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.
- Jude 1:10Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
- Revelation 3:17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Commentaries on 1 Timothy 6:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4He is proud - · He is blown up, or inflated with a vain opinion of his own knowledge; whereas his knowledge is foolishness, for he knows nothing. Doting about questions - He is sick, distempered, about these questions relative to the Mosaic law and the traditions of the elders; for it is most evident that the apostle has the Judaizing teachers in view, who were ever, in questions of theology, straining out a gnat, and swallowing a camel. Strifes of words…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4He is proud - That is, he is lifted up with his fancied superior acquaintance with the nature of religion. The Greek verb means, properly, “to smoke, to fume;” and then to be inflated, to “be conceited, etc.” The idea is, that he has no proper knowledge of the nature of the gospel, and yet he values himself on a fancied superior acquaintance with its principles. Knowing nothing - Margin, “a fool.” That is, that he does not understand the nature of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4he has an unhealthy interest in controversies and semantics: It is the same problem as in 1:4 (see also 2 Timothy 2:23–24; Titus 3:9).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. He is proud--literally, "wrapt in smoke"; filled with the fumes of self-conceit (1Ti 3:6) while "knowing nothing," namely, of the doctrine which is according to godliness (1Ti 6:3), though arrogating pre-eminent knowledge (1Ti 1:7). doting about--literally, "sick about"; the opposite of "wholesome" (1Ti 6:3). Truth is not the center about which his investigations move, but mere word-strifes. questions--of controversy. strifes of words--rather than…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Timothy 6:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 Timothy 6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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